October 29, 2005 - I wrapped up this week in Austin, Texas as a panelist at the Austin Game Developer's Conference. Five of us on-stage bantered about licensed games, talked about the various pitfalls that must be avoided when a publisher hands down a license, and gave some examples of the best and the absolute worst. As the two worst, I put forward Universal's Fury of the Hulk and Sprint's Looney Tunes Zany Race. These were absolute bottom of the barrel, but the good thing is, disasters of such insulting magnitude have not been repeated in the years since 2003. For one thing, I think carriers have been much more deft in turning down awful games -- which still exist, trust me -- no matter the license.

October 27, 2005 - THQ's Red Faction had all the makings of a dynasty -- that is, until Grand Theft Auto tore through the industry and made anything but the juggernaught, including Red Faction II, sit on shelves during holiday seasons. Never one to let a good franchise die, THQ Wireless has wisely re-upped the series for duty on mobile. Red Faction is not the first time a FPS has made the transition to handsets. JAMDAT's DOOM RPG was a megawatt success last month. But Red Faction rebirth as a top-down shooter more like the old PSone series Loaded isn't as delicious of a solution as JAMDAT's RPG formula.

October 8, 2004 - THQ Wireless has announced the impending development of a mobile take on Red Faction it's best-selling FPS for PS2 and PC. The game will appear on both BREW and Java enabled devices. The game stars new character Kava Zarel - a founding charter of the titular Red Faction - and follows her exploits to bring down the villainous Ultor Corporation and escape Mars for good.